


The View From Up Here

by alchemicink



Category: Hey! Say! JUMP
Genre: Chinen is the master of eavesdropping, Historical Inaccuracy, Humor, Innkeeper Yuto, M/M, Ninja Chinen, Samurai Yamada, excessive use of the phrase ninja'd away, sorta fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-27 23:50:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5069680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alchemicink/pseuds/alchemicink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chinen can see a lot of things from his favorite spot on the rooftop, especially the fact that his favorite innkeeper needs to hookup with the samurai that just wandered into town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The View From Up Here

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Narqissa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narqissa/pseuds/Narqissa) in the [chinentheplotdriver2015](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/chinentheplotdriver2015) collection. 



> **Prompt**
> 
> Old japan setting. Yuto the landlord, Yamada being a (beautiful) wondering samurai. Chinen is Yuto's personal ninja, childhood friend, martial arts instructor, personal tutor, etc (because he is born awesome) that knows it all and love to pop out anytime anywhere. No angst please.

Rooftops had always been Chinen Yuri’s favorite place to hang out. He liked the quiet up there since not many people had the ninja skills he had to climb up there with him. It was nice to just get away from everything sometimes. But also, he liked rooftops for the view. And the best view was from the top of Nakajima Yuto’s inn. From up there, he could see the road leading in and out of their small town. Chinen wouldn’t call himself nosy, but he did like to see who was passing through. He wanted to welcome friendly faces while also warding off any bandits who might cause trouble for the town. 

Today the road was mostly empty, but he could see one lone person approaching in the distance, walking with a quick determined gait. Chinen leaned forward to get a better look. He could tell by the stranger’s clothing and the swords hanging on his hip that the traveler was a samurai. 

A samurai with a very pretty face. 

Chinen smirked as an idea formed in his head, an idea that might make life a bit more interesting around here. Silently and fast, he climbed down from the roof to find Yuto. 

“Hey lazy bum, wake up,” Chinen called out once he found the innkeeper fast asleep and slumped over his table. A few empty cups and a bottle of sake were scattered around his head. The inn hadn’t been very busy lately, so Yuto had a lot of free time. “You’re about to have a customer.” He shook his friend’s shoulder until he finally moved. 

“Huh- wha-?” Yuto muttered and blinked a few times as he lifted his head up. Then he winced and immediately resumed using the table as a pillow. “Five more minutes. Or five more hours. Or something. Whatever.” 

Chinen was not impressed. “Yutti, are you drunk?” 

Yuto winced and put a hand over his head. “Not anymore apparently,” he grimaced because of the hangover. “What time is it?” 

“Middle of the afternoon,” Chinen said as he opened up a window to let the sunshine and fresh air in. 

“Already?” Yuto groaned as he finally sat up properly and stretched, wincing again from the headache and the stiffness of sleeping in an uncomfortable position. “No wonder my back hurts. Word of advice, Chi. Never ever play a drinking game with Hikaru and Yabu.” 

Chinen actually already knew that, but he nodded anyway as he stacked up a few of the empty cups to clear the table. “Just tidy everything up a bit. I’m about to bring you a beautiful, well-paying customer.” 

Yuto frowned. “Is it like a geisha? Because I told you before, girls aren’t really my type…” 

“Just clean up!” Chinen called out over his shoulder as he ninja’d away to find the samurai before a rival innkeeper snatched him up for the night. He raced through the town easily and found the stranger just as he reached the edge of town. 

“Hi!” he said as he stepped up beside the samurai to walk with him. “I’m Chinen. Welcome to our wonderful town.” 

Startled by the sudden presence of a companion, the samurai took a step back and reached for his swords. He watched Chinen with wary eyes but Chinen made sure the smile on his face never faltered. 

“I’m Yamada,” the traveler finally introduced himself, albeit a bit reluctantly. 

“You look like you’re in a hurry.” 

Yamada glanced up at the sky. “There’s a storm coming so I’m trying to find shelter before it approaches.” 

Chinen couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “You’re in luck then, Mr. Samurai. I know the best place in town. Follow me.” He led Yamada to the inn and hoped Yuto hadn’t gone right back to sleep. Yamada followed him with a mixture of caution and curiosity. His hand never left the hilt of his sword. 

The inside of the inn had actually been tidied up enough to be presentable so Chinen felt relieved, and Yuto had even managed to change into a cleaner yukata to greet his new guest. 

“Welcome!” the innkeeper said happily as he tried to smooth out a wrinkle in his sleeve. Yuto apparently hadn’t noticed that his hair was still messed up on one side from when he’d been sleeping. “I’m Yuto, and I am completely at your service. Please enjoy your stay.” This was his standard greeting to all new guests, but Chinen noticed that his tone was a bit more excited once he’d seen the samurai step through the door. 

Chinen watched the samurai’s reactions too and smiled when he relaxed enough to let down his guard and let go of his swords. Yamada’s eyes swept over the tall innkeeper standing before him, probably assessing his threat level or whatever else a samurai usually did. Chinen detected the barest hint of amusement underneath his passive facial expression. This might turn out to be more interesting than he first thought, Chinen realized, because Yuto was not-so-subtly checking out his guest too. 

The innkeeper and the samurai stared at each other for a moment before Chinen cleared his throat and brought them all back to reality. He could have sworn that literal romantic sparks were starting to fly between them for a moment.

“Uh,” Yuto coughed, and Chinen almost burst out laughing at the faint blush across his face. “Let me show you to your room.” 

The innkeeper and the samurai disappeared down the hallway together. Chinen could hear Yuto enthusiastically rambling about their town in an attempt to cover how flustered he was. 

Yes, Chinen smirked, this was definitely going to be more interesting than he first thought. 

***

True to the samurai’s prediction, a rain storm blew through the town, drenching everything and everyone. Chinen decided to abandon his post on Yuto’s slippery roof (even though he wasn’t in danger of falling off, amazing ninja skills and all that jazz) and so he took up his lookout position from the front door. He stood under the small makeshift wooden awning above the door to stay dry. Whenever it rained like this, several of their friends in the town would come over and bring food for a potluck dinner together. He was expecting them to show up soon. 

Not much later, Chinen spotted Keito, their friendly monk-in-training, approaching fast as he tried to get out of the rain. Keito was always early for everything, including the surprise birthday party they had tried to throw for him last year. He said a friendly hello as he ducked into the dry spot beside Chinen. He was carrying a basket of potatoes and moved to head inside, but Chinen grabbed the sleeve of his robe before he could go further. Without any question but a silent raised eyebrow, Keito stayed outside just waiting with him. 

Chinen had a plan. From the moment Yamada the samurai had first stepped into the inn, Chinen had been able to see the sparks flying between him and Yuto. Hooking them up would be a great idea because Chinen always had great ideas. 

From a distance, he could see their next arrivals were approaching. The town’s blacksmiths, Hikaru and Takaki, were walking together. Hikaru had a basket of food in his hands and Takaki was holding what looked like a thin piece of wood over his head to protect his hair from the raindrops. 

“We brought potatoes,” Hikaru announced as they reached the front door. His face fell as he noticed Keito’s own basket of potatoes. 

“You can never have too many potatoes,” Chinen said cheerfully as he blocked the entrance to the inn with his body. All of his friends were taller than him but as a skilled ninja, he knew exactly where to poke them all to incapacitate them if necessary. 

Realizing Chinen wasn’t going to move, Hikaru just squeezed under the awning alongside Keito and Chinen. There wasn’t much room so their shoulders and elbows all bumped together while Takaki stayed mostly dry under his board umbrella. 

“So… why can’t we go inside?” Hikaru complained as Keito shifted and stepped on his foot. 

Chinen smirked. “I’m just letting Yuto have some alone time with his guest.” 

“There’s actually someone staying at the inn?” Takaki blurted out and then winced as Hikaru elbowed him hard in the ribs. “I mean, yay for Yuto having customers again.” 

“Having some ‘alone time’ sounds a bit…” Keito trailed off, looking mildly scandalized. 

“What’s this about ‘alone time’?” another friend, Daiki, asked as he rushed up to squeezed under the awning. Arriving with him was Yabu who easily saddled up to the group and joined the tightly packed group. Daiki and Yabu worked together running a shop in town, selling odds and ends. 

Chinen continued his explanation about Yuto and the samurai who had wandered into town. Because there wasn’t a lot of space for the five of them squeezed under the awning, they kept interrupting Chinen’s story by complaining about squished feet and errant elbows. Takaki just watched them all smugly from the cover of his own makeshift umbrella board, but he did look a bit like his arms were starting to get tired from holding it above his head. 

“Forget Yuto for a moment,” Hikaru finally said, looking annoyed. “Did you guys seriously bring potatoes too?” 

Both Yabu and Daiki nodded. Each of them held a basket of potatoes in their arms like the rest of the group. 

“Variety is the spice of life,” Chinen quipped, “but who needs spice anyway?” 

At that moment, the final friend they were waiting for came casually strolling up the street, not seeming to care about the rain at all. Inoo was drenched head to toe but he didn’t seem to mind. Inoo was the town’s… well, actually no one was quite sure what he did, but he was always hanging out around anyway. 

“Please tell me you didn’t bring potatoes too,” Hikaru said as he craned his neck over the crowd of people blocking his view. 

“Nope,” Inoo grinned as he held up the sack he was carrying. “White rice. It’s uh… already been washed.” They all frowned as they realized the rain water dripping from the bag. Inoo slid himself into place beside Takaki underneath his board even though, at this point, it was pointless for him to seek any sort of shelter from the rain. Takaki grimaced as Inoo and his soaked clothes leaned against him. 

“Has it been enough alone time yet?” Takaki asked, trying to subtly lean away from Inoo. 

Chinen sighed. “I suppose so.” He opened the door and they all crowded through the small opening to get inside, again bumping shoulders and elbows as they squeezed through. 

Once he noticed them all, Yuto tore his eyes away from Yamada where they had been chatting at the table in the corner of the room. He almost looked annoyed at being interrupted, but he quickly hid it with his best innkeeper smile. Chinen felt confident that his plan was working perfectly. 

“Ah, you’re all here,” Yuto said brightly before his face fell a bit. “…with potatoes…? Did I miss a memo or something?” 

“I brought rice,” Inoo announced again, proudly holding up his bag of rice as he and it both dripped rain water all over the floor. 

From there, dinner was the usual sort of chaos as Yuto introduced Yamada to everyone, and then they went about preparing the meal and then fighting over where to sit around the table. Chinen _might_ have resorted to pulling a chair out from under Inoo to keep him from sitting between Yuto and Yamada, but he would admit to nothing if accused. Sometimes a ninja’s gotta do what a ninja’s gotta do. (Besides, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the time Hikaru had literally thrown a chair across the room because he was drunk and someone didn’t like his cooking. Chinen liked to think of himself as an angel in comparison. Or at the very least, a ninja with wings.) 

In the end, Chinen ended up beside Yuto, and Keito sat beside Yamada because the young monk-in-training was too shy to say much to the wandering samurai. So Chinen was happy as dinner allowed Yuto and Yamada another chance to talk more. Also, their assortment of potato and rice dishes weren’t bad either. 

Once dinner was over, Yuto disappeared to the kitchen to do the dishes while everyone said their goodbyes. 

“Hey Chinen, isn’t it your turn to help with the dishes?” Daiki asked as he peeked his head out of the front door to check the weather. The storm had passed and the rain had finally stopped. 

“Oh, yeah, I think so.” Not that Chinen wanted to wash any dishes. But perhaps he could use this in Operation: Hookup Yuto as well. “Mr. Samurai!” he said, grabbing Yamada’s sleeve. “How would you like to see our fancy kitchen?” 

“Okay…?” he responded as he was dragged along against his will. 

“Isn’t it nice?” Chinen said, spreading his arms wide to demonstrate the spaciousness of the room. Standing in front of the sink, Yuto had his sleeves rolled up and his arms plunged into the soapy water. He looked up as he noticed them. 

“Oi, Chi,” Yuto complained. “You were supposed to help me with this.” 

“My turn again already? Are you sure?” Chinen faked uncertainty as he inched ever so slightly towards the open window. 

“Yes it’s your… turn…” Yuto trailed off as Chinen escaped through the window. Now that the rain had stopped, Chinen took up a spot on the neighbor’s roof so he could monitor their progress and see if his plan was working. 

“Did your friend just jump out of a window… to avoid washing dishes?” he heard Yamada ask.

“Well, he’s a ninja so…” Yuto just shrugged and went back to washing. 

Chinen watched as Yamada rolled up his own sleeves and grabbed a dish too. 

“You don’t have to do that!” Yuto said, suddenly flailing one of his arms in the air and scattering soapy suds everywhere. “You’re my guest. And a samurai shouldn’t have to do this sort of work.” 

Yamada just smiled as he dried off the first plate. “I don’t mind. As a traveler, I have to do a lot of dirty work anyway. It’s not a problem. And whenever I return home to visit my family, I help out in the kitchen too.” 

Yuto’s eyebrows rose up in shock. “I wouldn’t have guessed you do stuff like that since you have such delicate hands.” He paused as he realized what he’d said. “Uh, I mean…” The embarrassment distracted him, and a plate slipped out of his hand. They both jumped back in sync to avoid the splash. But then the two of them laughed together, and Chinen was glad to see a different sort of smile on his friend’s face. Not the one he gave Chinen or the rest of his friends. 

Yamada and Yuto had continued their conversation, moving on to trading stories about their childhoods. Chinen decided that he’d seen enough. A ninja needed his rest too. He could continue his plan in the morning.

***

Once he was awake again, Chinen re-examined his strategy and decided to play to Yuto’s strengths. Namely, the innkeeper’s long arms and long legs. He should show Yamada what a great advantage they could be. With that in mind, Chinen used his sneaky ninja skills to steal one of Yamada’s swords while the samurai ate breakfast out in the courtyard with Yuto. 

Chinen searched around the inn for an appropriate hiding place until he finally decided on the top shelf of the food pantry. Like a cat, he climbed up high enough to put the katana there, positioning it so it wouldn’t be too hard to find. Then he grabbed a snack and climbed inside an empty barrel to wait. 

After a while, Chinen finally heard the door open. 

“I’ll just check in here anyway…” Yuto said. There was silence which Chinen assumed meant Yuto was scanning the room for the missing item. 

“There it is,” Yamada said and then sighed. “I can’t reach it.” 

“I’ll get it. No problem!” Yuto replied. 

Chinen could hear a shuffling sound as Yuto stretched to reach the samurai’s sword. Another moment later and there was a barely audible sigh of relief from Yamada. 

“I wonder how my sword ended up in here,” Yamada mused out loud. He was probably busy reattaching the sword to its proper place by his side. 

“I have a feeling it has something to do with a certain sneaky ninja,” Yuto answered. Chinen could imagine his friend was already scanning the room to find his hiding spot. He was glad no one could see the devious grin on his face at the moment. 

“Well… thank you…” Yamada’s voice sounded ever so slightly embarrassed. “…because I couldn’t reach the shelf myself…” 

“Ah! No…” There was a clatter as Yuto apparently knocked something over in his haste to reassure the samurai visitor. “It’s not a problem at all! Anytime you need something, I’ll help you out. Seriously, anything.” 

Chinen covered his mouth to muffle his giggles. Yuto was never this attentive to his previous customers.

“Anyway, I’ll tell Chinen to stop messing with your stuff,” Yuto apologized. Chinen guessed that he was probably bowing too, putting himself closer to Yamada’s eye level. 

“No problem,” Yamada answered with an amused laugh. “I’m going out now but I’ll be back again in a few hours… if you’re not busy or anything?” 

“Th-that’s totally fine,” Yuto sounded cheerful but a bit flustered. The sound of Yamada’s soft footsteps leaving the room followed, leaving Chinen to guess that Yamada’s response had just been a friendly smile. 

There was silence in the room until suddenly a loud thump against the side of the barrel startled Chinen in his hiding spot. He peeked up out of the top and saw Yuto towering over him with annoyed eyes. 

“Well hello there, Best Friend! Fancy meeting you here,” Chinen called out as he climbed out the barrel with as much nonchalance as he could muster. He dusted off his shoulders just to complete the look. “What brings you to the pantry on this fine day?” 

Yuto just ignored the silly question. “What are you doing?” 

“Can’t a guy just eat snacks in an empty barrel without being subjected to a million questions?” Chinen answered. He sat down on top of the barrel now that he wasn’t hiding anymore. 

“Not when you steal things from my guests,” Yuto said sternly. He crossed his arms to look more intimidating, but Chinen had known Yuto since they were babies so the effect was lost on him. “Now what are you doing?” he repeated again.

Chinen grinned. “Just trying to convince our samurai friend to stick around for a while. You two are cute together, you know.” 

A blush automatically spread across Yuto’s face, and he put his hands over his cheeks to hide it. Not like that would do any good against Chinen’s amazing ninja observation skills though. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yuto muttered. 

Chinen hopped up from his sitting position and reached for the bento box he’d also hidden away in the pantry earlier behind Yuto’s stock of noodles. “Anyway, I made lunch for you today.” 

With a suspicious look, Yuto slowly opened the box like there was the possibility that something would jump out at him. (It had been one time, okay? And Chinen had promised not to do it again.) But luckily for Yuto, the contents inside were perfectly normal except for the simple message Chinen had written for him in sauce over the rice.

“ _Confess_?” Yuto read out loud. “Like confess my sins or confess my love?”

“It can be two things,” Chinen laughed as he ninja’d away quickly before Yuto could ask any more questions. 

***

For the rest of the day, Chinen kept his distance and stayed out of sight. He merely observed his subjects and hoped that they wouldn’t do anything dumb, like deny their feelings for each other instead of confessing them. But truthfully, the day had been very unexciting. Yuto spent his day tidying up the inn while Yamada visited the townspeople and helped them out if they needed anything. Chinen was beginning to wonder if he’d have to plan something else to get those two stubborn people together before Yamada decided to leave. 

But then Chinen remembered that tonight was Yuto’s usual night to practice his martial arts training out in the courtyard. The samurai might be interested in practicing with him. So Chinen did something he never ever did.

“I’ll do the dishes for you tonight!” Chinen blurted out immediately after dinner was over. 

Yuto automatically put his hand to Chinen’s forehead to check if he had a fever. Yamada sat at the table, quietly observing. Chinen waved Yuto’s hand away. 

“It’s your training night, isn’t it?” Chinen said. “I’ll help you out so you can get started early.” 

“Training night?” Yamada piped up, looking curious. He had already neatly stacked his dirty dishes together on the table like he had been intending to wash them himself. 

Yuto scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “You can join me… if you want?” he offered.

It took every bit of Chinen’s amazing ninja skills not to start grinning right there in the middle of the room. Instead he gathered up the dishes himself and shooed them both outside. After that, he dumped all the dishes into the sink full of water to soak and then promptly snuck out to his favorite place on the roof.

Yuto was already demonstrating a few moves to Yamada, and their voices carried clearly through the air so that Chinen could hear them talking. 

“Chinen taught me how to fight a long time ago,” Yuto explained as he moved through the set of punches slowly so that Yamada could follow the routine. 

From his spot, Chinen nodded proudly to himself. He’d taught Yuto martial arts for self-defense just in case Chinen ever wasn’t around, but he never expected the skills would come in handy for romance too. He noticed Yamada was watching Yuto’s movements with intense focus, like Yuto was the most interesting thing in the whole universe. Chinen could imagine those literal romantic sparks again just like when the two of them first met.

“Do you want to spar? I could use some practice,” Yamada suggested. 

Yuto smirked, finally overcoming his bit of awkward shyness around Yamada and replacing it with confidence. “You think you can beat me?” 

Yamada matched his smirk with his own confidence and rolled up his sleeves. “Let’s do this.” 

Chinen watched to see how the battle would turn out. It was actually a pretty evenly-matched fight with both of them able to land some hits and dodge some punches. The sparring match continued for a while longer but they looked like they were starting to get tired and their moves began to get sloppy. Without any warning, Yuto suddenly tripped over his feet and stumbled, throwing off Yamada’s own momentum. The two of them ended up standing rather close together, arms wrapped around each other to steady themselves before they both fell down. 

Chinen leaned forward in anticipation but then realized he was in danger of being seen. He leaned back and held his breath as he waited for what would happen next. 

“So, uh…” Yuto began. 

“Yeah…?” Yamada responded. 

Their eyes were locked together but neither one of them spoke anymore. It was silent except for the sounds of them trying to catch their breaths. Chinen felt like banging his head against the roof tiles. How much more opportunity did they need?!

“So I, uh… wanted to say…” Yuto began again, inching ever so slightly closer to the shorter samurai. “I wanted to say that I kinda, sorta… like you?” 

Yamada laughed softly. “Well, I… kinda sorta like you too.” 

And then finally, _finally_ , Yuto and Yamada both leaned forward to share a kiss. Chinen let out a quiet sigh of relief and resisted the urge to cheer loudly. He looked back again and saw that the kiss was getting a bit more heated, so he decided that he should give them some privacy for a while. 

He disappeared from the roof and into the town to brag about his success to the first friend he could find. 

***

In the morning, Chinen cheerfully returned to Yuto’s inn. It was still early but he was hungry and wanted to raid the pantry again. But before he ate anything, he decided to check on everyone first. He silently peeked inside the room Yamada had been staying in. 

It was empty. 

Chinen felt all the blood drain from his face and he was sure he looked whiter than a bowl of rice. Had the wandering samurai decided to continue on his journey? Had something else happened to drive him away after Chinen had stopped watching them last night? 

Frantic, Chinen raced to Yuto’s room and burst through the doorway without even knocking. 

“Something terrible has happened!” he shouted. 

Yuto blinked up at the ninja with sleepy eyes and yawned loudly. And that’s when Chinen noticed that there was a second pair of eyes staring back at him with a confused look. Yamada hadn’t left at all. He had just shared the room with Yuto. 

“Um… I heard Inoo set Keito’s robe on fire again,” Chinen lied to cover up his embarrassing intrusion. 

“That happens at least once a week,” Yuto complained and closed his eyes again. “You didn’t have to wake us up for that.” He snuggled deeper under the futon blanket and closer to Yamada. 

“What are you two doing anyway?” Chinen asked as he plopped down right in the middle of the futon like a child waking up his parents. 

Since Yuto was intent on trying to fall back asleep, Yamada was the one to answer. “We were up late last night talking and I just fell asleep in Yuto’s room.” 

“Just talking?” Chinen grinned. 

“You don’t have to answer that, Yama-chan,” Yuto muttered sleepily into his pillow. 

“Anyhow,” Yamada continued speaking to Chinen, “I’ve decided to stay for a while. If that’s not a problem for you?” 

Chinen was happy that everything had worked out. “Well, Mr. Samurai, you can stay in Yuto’s inn as long as you want.” He was looking forward to seeing how this romance would continue to grow. 

“Chinen, you’re my best friend but you can’t decide who stays in my inn,” Yuto said, and then he rolled over to whisper in Yamada’s ear. “You can stay here as long as you want.” 

Just then, Chinen’s stomach growled to ruin the moment. “I’m hungry,” he said as he stood up and stretched. 

“You should make us breakfast,” Yuto suggested. 

“I’m sorry but my work here is done,” Chinen teased as he walked out the door. But then he stopped and stuck his head back into the room. “By the way, I never washed those dishes last night.” 

“You’re the worst,” Yuto complained, but Chinen had already ninja’d away to let the new couple get some more sleep. Or whatever else they wanted to do. 

After grabbing a piece of bread from the kitchen, Chinen climbed back up to the inn’s roof. He settled down for a relaxing day of watching the town now that his mission was accomplished. Chinen had always been able to see a lot of things, and the view from up here was just perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Narqissa, I hope you enjoyed this! I'm sorry it took longer to write than I expected, but life's been crazy lately. Writing Chinen as a ninja was super fun so thanks for the lovely prompt. ^_^


End file.
